Birthday Blues
by Serenity de la Luna
Summary: It's the one day a year where Ace is totally heartless, lost in his own sorrow. The day he wishes he did not exist. His birthday. The day his mother died. While wallowing in his grief he doesn't even understand what it is he's doing. Can Luffy convince him that being born is actually a bad thing at all? Warning! Slight OOC Luffy Childhood: Brotherly AceLu


This is my first story so PLEASE be kind, when telling me what you thought. Constructive criticism is okay I guess.

This is just popped into my head after hearing a bunch of crap about the so-called "Godliness" of the Celestial Dragons and the world government.

I have another idea for a story and I wanted to use this as a part of it so I had to create this part first.

_**Warning**__**: **_ **OOC Luffy!**

Disclaimer: I do _**NOT**_ own One Piece _obviously_.

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><p>To say that this was not what Luffy expected was kind of an understatement.<p>

He expected to wake up and find his brother rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and waking up just like him. Luffy did not expect to not be able to find Ace **anywhere**.

Luffy searched the bandit's house; he searched the tree house, hell, he even searched all of Gray Terminal looking for him!

He even went down to Fuchsia to see if he was there but nope, he wasn't.

Portgas D. Ace could not be found anywhere.

Luffy couldn't think of anywhere that Ace would be…mostly because his head started hurting cuz' he kept thinking. Luffy ran through the forest, searching and calling him. When suddenly it hit him, literally, as Luffy ran into a tree branch he suddenly remembered, what day it was and the one place he hadn't gone to look.

The Cliffside, _their _Cliffside.

The one where Ace promised him that he wouldn't die and leave him alone.

The one where the three of them became brothers in everything but blood.

The one where the grave of their brother, Sabo now stood.

Running as fast as he could, he reached the Cliffside in a few minutes.

Heaving, he looked towards the cliff to find his brother sitting on the ground with his knees to his chest, holding a red hibiscus in hands, looking like he'd rather have been dead than be where he was right now.

**Today was Ace's 11****th**** birthday.**

Luffy sighed in both relief and worry. Ace's birthday was always a touchy subject for them. No matter how much they wanted to celebrate, Ace would always tell them that there was no reason to celebrate him being born.

Last year,_(According to Sabo_) it was the same, but this year Luffy was determined to celebrate and give him a gift. Nothing would stop. Not even an angry and sad Ace.

Determined, Luffy walked as calmly and silently as an energetic 8-year-old can. He stopped a few steps away from Ace, who still had yet to notice him. He watched silently as Ace sighed deeply and sunk even further into his birthday-induced depression.

After watching for a few more moments, Luffy made up his mind and called out to his brother.

"…Ace?" He called softly. Ace jerked up and turned around looking at him with wild, alarmed eyes. Ace's eyes softened for a second when they laid eyes on Luffy.

Luffy watched with a blank face, devoid of emotion as Ace's eyes hardened and became slightly cold.

"Luffy…what are you doing here? Isn't it obvious that I wanted to be alone for the day! If I wanted you around me, I would have woken you up! Leave me alone!" Ace yelled.

Luffy frowned slightly, "Ace…what's wrong with you? It's your birthday. I know you don't like this day but–"

"But, nothing! Leave me alone Lu! Brothers or not I can't believe you want to be around me! I don't deserve to live! I killed my mom by being born! She couldn't have possibly loved me!" He screamed.

Ace was livid. Luffy could see his brother was upset but was determined not to let it get to him.

Ace was sad. Luffy understood that.

Ace was lonely. Luffy understood that.

Ace was tired of the way he was treated by absolute strangers who knew absolutely nothing about him. Luffy really did understand that.

But despite all that….Ace was not being….Ace.

He was being an angry child who believed that he had absolutely no right to live, because the idiots in the world government decided that he didn't.

For once Luffy decided that he would be the one to take care of Ace not the other way around.

"What's the matter with you! Why do you keep saying that? Why do you suddenly have the desire to die!" Luffy paused to calm down. Anger wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"Ace, please, tell me why." Luffy whispered.

Ace snarled.

"You wanna know why? It's because **I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE!** I don't deserve to be alive knowing that I killed my mother by being born. It was a sin for me to have been born. The world is constantly telling me that. Everyone I ask tells me that I have no right to live. I don't want to believe it but I do." He said.

Ace raised his head and looked into Luffy's eyes. Once he saw the darkened pain that reflected from his baby brother's eyes, he flinched.

Luffy looked at Ace's face. He could see the pain on Ace's face and in his eyes. He let his straw-hat cover his eyes and frowned deeply.

"….Are you stupid?" Luffy asked lowly.

Ace sputtered. "W-what? Who are you calling stupid–"

A loud_** Thump, **_cut Ace off. Ace looked to see what it was. Luffy had actually _punched_ a tree and broke it in half.

Luffy raised his head; Ace could see the pure rage that Luffy felt.

"No matter what they tell you Ace, you deserve to live! I want you to live! **Sabo** wanted you to live! That's the whole reason he gave up his freedom! So we could be safe, free and so we could **live**but if you want to go ahead and waste the live he saved then you're not half the man I thought you were!"

Luffy sighed and gave Ace a broken, pained but strong look.

"Ace. The World Government _**does not**_ get to choose who lives and who dies… Life is a precious gift that you have to treasure. You only get one shot at life, so please, _**please**_Ace. Don't give up your life just because a bunch of stuck up idiots believe that you have to die because you were born to someone who was a criminal in their eyes. And you never know! Everyone could have been wrong about _him, _about _Roger_! ...Ace, if there's one thing that I absolutely want you to hear it's this."

Luffy closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then looked Ace straight in the eyes.

"The sins of the parents **do not** carry onto their children. Blood they may be, but they are **not** the ones who created the supposed sin. The world is too stubborn to see that. Ace, we made a promise to be free, and become one of the strongest pirates that have ever been known."

"We will be outlaws to the world, famous outlaws, but I can assure you. You won't be known as The Pirate King's son. You will be known as Portgas D. Ace. A man whose freedom knows no bounds. …Ace, the world government **does not** get to decide who lives and who dies. You need to understand that. I only realized this because of what happened to Sabo."

"Some people are born to die. Some people are born to guide others. Some people are born to survive. And some are born to dictate other's lives until someone frees them.

But, do you know what people like you and me are born to be?

Ace, people like me and you, are born to be free.

We are **born** to be free.

We are born to live, to love, to laugh and to enjoy life without a single regret. That is who we are Ace. Me, you and Sabo.

You were born to be someone Ace. You're not gonna be just some random face that was on this planet for a few decades, then disappeared cuz' no one knows you.

We can't live forever, but you _**can **_make people remember you for hundreds or even thousands of years, after you die."

Luffy pulls Ace into a hug, sighs and says,

"Thank you for being my big brother Ace; I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you Ace, remember that. No matter how many times someone says; that you shouldn't have been born remember that. You are loved and you always will be, because I love you, and I'm sure you mother did too."

Ace looks at Luffy with wide eyes, tear threatening to fall, while Luffy looks at him with a loving, kind and sincere smile on his face.

"Luffy you–" Ace struggles. Ace buries his face into Luffy's shoulder and holds him tight for a few seconds.

"No, Lu. Thank **you**, you are my reason to live, you are the first person to **ever** say they wanted me to live. I can't believe I was so stupid." Ace said.

"Besides, since when have we ever cared about what the world thought of us? If we cared we wouldn't have done so many eat-an-runs or beat up or stole from so many people."Ace snorted.

Luffy laughed and pull out of the hug. "Shishishi, silly Ace! Now come on, I have something to show you!"

Ace let Luffy pull him along, as they ran back to the tree house. Luffy slowed down once the tree house was in sight. Once they stopped, Luffy told Ace to wait right outside while he went and got something.

Ace didn't have to wait long though, because not even a minute later Luffy came outside the tree house with a stupid wide grin on his face with his hands behind his back.

"Luffy…" Ace started suspiciously, "You don't have anything **dangerous **behind your back _**right**_?

Luffy smiled wider. "Nope! Nothing dangerous at all! Here! Happy Birthday Ace!" Luffy said, as he shoved a cowboy hat into Ace's hands.

Ace looked at the hat in surprise. It was a bright orange cowboy hat, with red beads around the rim, and two circle shaped faces on the top, one smiling devilishly and the other frowning sadly. It even had a skull on the circle holding the straps!

Ace looked at Luffy wide eyed, with his mouth open, "Luffy I-I don't know what to say…I love it. Thank you."

Luffy smiled even wider, and looked at the hat as if remembering something good.

"Sabo and I picked it out for you. We both had hats so we thought that we should get you one as well. I'm glad you like it. When we saw it, we immediately thought of you. We even paid for it, cuz we really wanted you to have a good birthday."

Ace looked at the hat one last time before putting it on his head. _*Thank you Sabo*_ He thought as he looked at the sky. The breeze blew by and Ace could swear he heard Sabo saying, "You're welcome and happy birthday Ace."

Maybe his birthday wasn't such a bad thing after all.

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><p>And Done! I hope you like it! I know it was probably pretty horrible! So please, any comments to help me improve would be welcomed!<p> 


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